The Mutant Registration Act of 2003
by JDCorley
Summary: What in the world are people talking about when they yell about the Mutant Registration Act? Well, I wrote one, I got some awesome reviews and comments, and I'm incorporating them into a law review article about it! More comments would help!
1. The Mutant Registration Act

**Mutant Registration Act of 2003**

AN ACT

To require the genetic fingerprinting and registration of mutants; and for other purposes.

TITLE I

Sec. 1. (a) It shall be the duty of every mutant now or hereafter in the United States, who (1) is fourteen years of age or older, (2) has not been registered under section 2, and (3) remains in the United States for thirty days or longer, to apply for registration and to be genetically and physically fingerprinted before the expiration of such thirty days.

(b) It shall be the duty of every parent or legal guardian of any mutant now or hereafter in the United States, who (1) is less than fourteen years of age, (2) has not been registered under section 2, and (3) remains in the United States for thirty days or longer, to apply for the registration of such mutant before the expiration of such thirty days. Whenever any mutant attains his fourteenth birthday in the United States he shall, within thirty days thereafter, apply in person for registration.

Sec. 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1,

(a) The application for the registration, or for the registration, of any mutant who is in the United States on the effective date of such sections may be made at any time within four months after such date.

(b) No foreign government official, or member of his family, shall be required to be registered under this title.

(c) The Commissioner of Mutant Affairs is authorized to prescribe, with the approval of the Attorney General, special regulations for the registration of (1) mutant seamen, (2) mutant holders of border-crossing identification cards, (3) mutants confined in institutions within the United States, (4) mutants under order of deportation, and (5) mutants of any other class not lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence.

Sec. 3. (a) The Commissioner is authorized and directed to prepare forms for the registration, fingerprinting and DNA typing of mutants under this title. Such forms shall contain inquiries with respect to (1) the birthdate of the mutant; (2) activities in which he has been and intends to be engaged; (3) if a nonresident mutant, the length of time he expects to remain in the United States; (4) the criminal record, if any, of such mutants; (5) the powers of the mutant, if known; and (6) such additional matters as may be prescribed by the Commissioner, with the approval of the Attorney General.

(b) All registration records made under the provisions of this title shall be secret and confidential, and shall be made available only to such persons or agencies as may be designated by the Commissioner, with the approval of the Attorney General.

(c) Every mutant required to apply for the registration of himself or another under this title shall submit under oath the information required for such registration. Any person authorized to register aliens under this title shall be authorized to administer oaths for such purpose.

Sec. 4. Any mutant required to be registered under this title who is a resident of the United States shall notify the Commissioner in writing of each change of residence and new address within five days from the date of such change. Any other mutant required to be registered under this title shall notify the Commissioner in writing of his address at the expiration of each three months' period of residence in the United States. In the case of a mutant for whom a parent or legal guardian is required to apply for registration, such parent or legal guardian shall give the notices required by this section.

Sec. 5. (a) Any mutant required to apply for registration who willfully fails to refuses to make such application, and any parent or legal guardian required to apply for the registration of any mutant who willfully fails or refuses to file application for the registration of such mutant shall, upon conviction thereof be fined not to exceed $10,000 or be imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(b) Any mutant, or any parent or legal guardian of any mutant, who fails to give written notice to the Commissioner of change of address as required by section 35 of this Act shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not to exceed $100, or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.

(c) Any mutant or any parent or legal guardian of any mutant, who files an application for registration containing statements known by him to be false, or who procures or attempts to procure registration of himself or another person through fraud, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not to exceed $1,000, or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both.


	2. X Officio Part 1

**X-Officio: The Mutant Registration Act**

by Franklin Nelson(1)

This article attempts to summarize the statutory and regulatory framework surrounding mutant registration in America.

**I. THE ACT**

The act was clearly designed to follow the Alien Registration Act of 1940, also known as the Smith Act, named after its author, Howard W. Smith of Virginia. There has been some movement among opponents to call the Mutant Registration Act the "Kelly Act" under the same principle, but that fell by the wayside as various versions of the Act made their way through Congress with and without Senator Robert Kelly's assistance and support. The Alien Registration Act was relatively successful, leading to the registration of over four and a half million resident aliens in the first few years of the law. Many supporters of the Mutant Registration Act hoped for the same result.

A. Definition of "Mutant".

The Act itself does not contain any definition of "mutant". A separately passed piece of omnibus legislation empowered the Commissioner of Mutant Affairs (a position established within the Department of Homeland Security) to promulgate regulations definining the term in the Federal Register. After consultation with geneticists working for the government he did. (2)

Geneticists have worked for the government in many capacities related to mutancy, so it was natural that the executive and legislative branches would turn to these scientists when determining a definition of mutancy. The disastrous Pagel class action litigation involving damage caused by Sentinels designed by the government, led to the Project Wideawake hearings before a joint budgetary committee. These hearings exposed a network of several dozen top geneticists recruited from universities around the world to construct anti-mutant weaponry. Very early in the process, a working "mutant scanner" system was created. Although expensive, scanners of that kind can now be found in nearly every publically funded hospital in the United States. The Purple Can Of Worms - Project Wideawake In American Jurisprudence 81 Harvard L.R. 192 (1998).

The definition of "mutant" established by the government has two prongs: the first, the "genetic test", a complicated sequence of genetic markers that can be located with a simple DNA test. This is the so-called "X-Factor" announced by scientists in the early days of mutants, and it is this genetic sequence that the "mutant scanners" search for. The second and more controversial prong is the "ability test", which has two parts: first, the person must have superhuman abilities, and second, the person has not shown that they do not possess the X-Factor by a DNA test. Superhuman abilities are those that exceed the "top baseline" factor established by the military in 1944 as part of the Super-Soldier tests. Those baseline levels were declassified and released to Congress in 1964.

The advantage to this two-part definition was simple - to attempt to force every known superhuman on Earth to undertake a DNA test to avoid prosecution, and to provide a way out for those who were unjustly accused under the Act. A person who displayed superhuman powers could "clear their name" of being a mutant if they took the DNA test and the X-Factor was not present.(3)

This intent was stymied, at least at first. Not even federally sponsored supernormal people went to disprove that they were mutants. This led to further regulation and enforcement attempts. As Congress dealt with the public relations tightrope of trying to force popular superheroes to do what they absolutely refused to do, federal and state law enforcement agencies tried to determine what to do about the law itself.

* * *

(1) Franklin Nelson is a presiding member of the New York Bar Association Executive Committee, a former state president of the American Civil Liberties Union, a former New York District Attorney and a founding partner of the firm of Nelson & Murdock.

(2) 227 Fed Reg. 19218 at 19277 (2003)

(3) It would also exclude interplanetary, interdimensional or supernatural sentients whose DNA patterns were either so different from human as to make testing difficult, or missing entirely.


End file.
